The
Second Trumpet
Paul
M. Sadler
“And the second angel sounded, and
as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the
third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures
which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships
were destroyed” (Rev. 8:8,9).
The blast of the second trumpet
sends an object hurling out of the heavens that will destroy a third part
of marine life, as well as a third part of the ships at sea. The Holy
Spirit is careful to add that this heavenly body was “as it were a great
mountain.” In other words, it was not a mountain as such, but had
characteristics like a mountain—it was immense and had the
appearance of solid rock. This could well be a description of an asteroid,
which has many of the same features.
An asteroid can range from a few
feet in diameter to hundreds of miles across and everything in between.
There are tens of thousands of them, orbiting the sun in what’s called a
band asteroid belt. It is well known that asteroids frequently pass by the
earth, normally at great distances. Here it seems apparent that the finger
of God will supernaturally alter the course of one of these heavenly
objects. If a large asteroid were to pass through our atmosphere, we would
probably describe it the same way that John did, as a mountain
burning with fire.
The Apostle John then observed that
this massive missile was cast into the sea. In all probability,
this is the Mediterranean Sea since the second bowl judgment of Revelation
16 will be far more extensive and destructive to the oceans of the world.
It has been said, “The steps of God from mercy to judgment are always
slow, reluctant, and measured.” At this stage of the trumpets, God’s
judgments will still be tempered with mercy so as to give men an
opportunity one last time to repent and turn to Him in faith; the full
scope of His fury will be unleashed later, in the bowl judgments. The
surface area of the Mediterranean Sea is roughly nine hundred sixty-five
thousand, three hundred (965,300) square miles, a third of which would be
three hundred twenty-one thousand, seven hundred sixty-seven (321,767) square
miles. Once again, to give you some idea as to the extent of this second
judgment, the area of the Mediterranean affected would be greater than the
State of Texas.
An asteroid, or whatever this
enormous object is, falling into the Mediterranean Sea will be catastrophic.
John is very careful to point out that before the death of marine
life, “the third part of the sea became blood,” reminiscent of Egypt
again, when God supernaturally turned the water into blood
(Ex. 7:20). Multiply that miraculous event a hundredfold, and you have
some idea of the severity of this judgment. Men will undoubtedly look on
in horror as the sea turns to crimson.
The apostle then adds, “And the
third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.”
The death of marine life will not cause the bloody sea; to the contrary,
the bloody sea will kill the marine life. Creatures of the sea such as
fish, dolphins, and turtles will be unable to survive in these conditions.
The result will be death on a grand scale! If you’ve ever gone fishing,
you know that one dead fish on the water’s edge is enough to drive you to
another fishing spot. Imagine millions of fish floating on the surface of
the water; the stench will be unbearable, as it was in Egypt (Ex. 7:21).
“And the third part of the ships
were destroyed.” An asteroid a mile wide, hitting the earth at 30,000
miles per hour would produce 10 to 50 million times the energy of the atom
bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. It would “flatten
everything for 100 to 200 miles out from ground zero.” The carnage will be
incomprehensible as many shipyards will be totally wrecked. Those
ships at sea within the range of this blast will capsize and be swept
away by the ensuing tidal waves. The aftermath of this judgment will devastate the
fishing industry and hamper world shipping and trade on an unprecedented
scale. It will be a financial disaster for hundreds of ports of call that
rely on tourism.
As we are already witnessing, the
Lord will be like a mighty man of war in the day of battle, with a
military strategy that will make the warmongers of this world tremble
(Isa. 42:13). With just two blasts of the trumpets, He will decimate trade
and commerce on both land and sea.
Transformed By
Grace -
Kevin Sadler
Transformed By Grace
#1 - Unity in Christ
Transformed By Grace #2 - One Body in
Christ
Transformed By Grace #3 - The Apostle of
Grace
Transformed By Grace #4 - The Gifts of
Christ
Posted By Cecil and
Connie Spivey
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